People often only talk about the collector cars that have surged in value, but the elephant in the room is that the flip side of that surge in value is that it's common place for cars to fall in value.
So, we've done some digging and found 5 instances where we've seen the same chassis come to auction multiple times and where the price of that vehicle has fallen. Let's go.
Note: cars are selected based on either price falls in % of £ terms. Any losses stated are exclusive of sellers fees and import duties where applicable.
1941 Cadillac Series 62 (Chassis: 8354526)
This is a huge price drop for an identical car. This is a 1941 Series 62 Cadillac, it was sold by Barrett-Jackson in July 2022 for $385,000 (£319,995) and then it was sold by them again in Janaury 2023 but for a comparatively measly $231,000 (£192,088).
That's a $154,000 loss in 6 months, or to put it in percentage terms 40%...
2015 Land Rover Defender 90 XS 'Khan' (Chassis: SALLDWBP7GA478723)
The online auction platform, Collecting Cars, sold this Defender, customised by Khan, initially in November 2022 where they achieved a winning bid of £50,000.
It then was listed on the platform in August 2023, just under a year later. In that period, it did. a little over 1,000 miles. Despite the marginal mileage difference, it only reached a winning bid of £33,000.
That's a 34% fall in 12 months. Putting it in other terms, for every mile that person did, it cost them £14.89 in depreciation.
1998 Subaru Impreza STI 22B (Chassis: GC8-070918)
Collecting Cars sold this iconic 22B twice in 18 months.
In the first instance, the car sold for A$362,500 (£201,670) in January 2022. At the time it had 71,003km on the clock.
Wind forward 18 months to June 2023 and the odometer now stood at 71,100km. Remarkably only 93km driven in 18 months. It turned out those 93kms may well have been the most expensive of the individual's life as when the car sold it sold for A$197,000 (£109,648).
That's a price fall of 46% in 18 months.
The depreciation per km trumps the previous car and each km cost the individual a remarkable £989.48... I'm not sure I've ever seen a higher figure than that.
1972 Ford Mustang (Chassis: 2F01F186167)
This is a prime example of the uncomfortable truth that many people don't want to acknowledge: what you spend on a car does it not correspond to an equivalent rise in value.
Here, the owner bought this '72 Mustang in April 2022 from Anglia Car Auctions for £15,228.
After acquiring the car the owner got out the cheque book and spent monies on new floors, carpets and an interior renovation. LED lights were fitted all over and a DAB radio was added. Less than 150 miles were driven in the car before it came back to auction in August 2023.
This time around it didn't sell for £15,228 but rather £9,396. That's a 38% price fall, despite the money sunk into it.
No doubt the LED lights dwindled the interested audience by a sizeable chunk...
1966 Sunbeam Tiger Custom Convertible (Chassis: 382001019)
And finally a sale from America. This is a near identical sale 12 months apart, yet the prices were 44% different.
The Sunbeam Tiger was sold by Barrett-Jackson in the US at their Scottsdale auction in 2022 for $148,500 (£110,173).
A year later, it goes back to the very same auction in Scottsdale in 2023 with seemingly no material differences aside from the title being in transit at the time of auction and sold for $74,800 (£62,200).
Exclusive of seller's fees that's a $73,700 loss...
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